


For the moon never beams without bringing him dreams

by Ravens_of_East



Category: Naruto
Genre: Ambiguous Age, Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, No Uchiha Massacre, Pining, Pre-Slash, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, i imagine shippuden sasuke here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27181219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravens_of_East/pseuds/Ravens_of_East
Summary: On a restless summer night, Sasuke yearns, Sasuke pines.
Relationships: Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	For the moon never beams without bringing him dreams

**Author's Note:**

> It started as bunch of tweets on a sleepless night and then i thought to myself, why not turn them into a whole drabble?  
> *The title is taken from Poe's poem "Annabel Lee".

It was a cool breezy summer night, with the full moon illuminating the village with shimmering silver light. For years it had been a tradition for the brothers to open the shoji doors in such nights and sleep under the moon’s benevolent light. It had been done for years, Sasuke thought, it was supposed to be familiar, comforting, and nostalgic. Yet, the unease was not leaving Sasuke’s body. Too late to regret, Sasuke berated himself. This subtle restlessness had become a common sensation in recent months whenever he was close to Itachi. Maybe Sasuke was fool enough to think the childhood tradition could reshape the unfamiliar feelings seeping through his veins, turning them back to the innocent love he used to bore for his brother. But the sickly vines of unwelcomed emotions were growing ever stronger, poking through his flesh, twisting around his bones, creeping over his heart to release their poison into the beating vault. He was a fool, and for that, he had to suffer.

Sasuke turned his head to his brother, sleeping peacefully next to him, his pale face glowing under the dim light. Sasuke watched; wished he couldn’t. He could hear Itachi’s low breaths, he could see his shoulder moving with their rhythm, his figure turned to his side gracefully like a sleeping bride. With his lean body relaxed in his slumber, his long silks of raven fanning around his head and his thin pink lips slightly apart, even in his sleep, his elegance was ever so present. Sasuke watched in agony, cursing himself for noticing all the bits and pieces of Itachi’s exquisiteness that was missed by everyone else. All that was so precious to him that he resented them. He was damned, damned and tortured in his earthly hell.

He stretched his hand across the futon, wishing to reach Itachi.

" _I ache for you,_

" _I yearn for you,_

" _I burn for you_ ,

 _"and I hate you_ , _"_ words slid on his tongue but stayed locked behind his sealed lips, words that roared deep inside but vanished once in his mouth, never reaching the other side.

Sasuke watched in silence as a part of his soul, like an extended limb, rose from his body. Like a furtive snake it crawled over to his sleeping brother, and like a ghost it hung above him. Yet, it never dared to touch. Frozen above Itachi’s moonlit body, not even the illusory phantom, the nonexistent limb dared to touch him.

 _Too scared to even dream_ , Sasuke scoffed at himself. A coward he was. And with spite and with grudge he stared at the totem of his cowardice, at Itachi, looking fair as the moon herself, a hazy vision, a mirage. There was a fear, not only of the forbiddance of the touch, but also of the uncertainty of the result. If he were to touch Itachi, he pondered, would his hand lay on the warm silver skin, tasting his beauty on the fingertips? Or would his fingers dip into the nothingness of reality, as if a ghost was desperately trying to catch another ghost?

As Sasuke’s mind started to slip, the lines of the world began to blur. He could not understand where this ethereal existence if front of him belonged, and could no longer make sense of his own heart. His emotions blending with incomprehensible thoughts, drifted away from him. In daze, Sasuke wondered if it was all wicked tricks of the summer full moon; the treacherous globe, casting the ill spell on the unfortunately souls still awake. Could all this hatred and all this pining be fragments of his imagination? Was it a wistful hope, an easy way out, as he blamed it all on nature’s witchery? Or did he, despite his torment, long for them to be real?

Maybe it was time to close his eyes. His lids were already heavy as his mind was begging to drift into the unconscious realm. Perhaps tomorrow, as the sun would rise, this illusion would too be dissipated... Perhaps tomorrow it would all be forgotten, pushed deep down the trenches of his subconscious, or simply written off as some unruly reverie.

But just as his eyelids were dropping down, a sudden glimpse grabbed onto him. It was a glimpse of two pitch black orbs, staring right back at him. A look so awake, so aware, watching him, reading him. Sasuke’s heart twisted and curled in his ribcage and his breath froze in his lungs. _This is just a dream_ , he told himself, _this is just a nightmare_. Yet, the blurry lines of Itachi’s lips were first stretching into a smile, and then moving, shaping words, a sentence, a murmur. But Sasuke could not hear. There was a ponding his ears as his brain was screaming, warning him of the hallucination.

Itachi’s smile pierced through Sasuke’s haze. He was a second too late when he realized a hand was reaching back to him. He had forgotten his own hand, outstretched toward his brother. Too late to pull back, Itachi’s fingers brushed against his. There was a shockwave going through Sasuke’s body, his mind melted, his heart ripped in half. He felt all and nothing at once. The sensation so intense, he was feeling numb. _Why brother, why?_ Sasuke’s mind begged, _why are you so cruel to me?_ But his silent cries was not grasped by Itachi. His fingers dragged across Sasuke’s palm, wrapping themselves around his wrist, a thumb caressing his pulse. Sasuke’s skin burned by the persisting touch. Sasuke was sure he was going to be marked, that the loose hold of Itachi’s hand was going to leave untreatable scars. In Sasuke’s foggy eyes, Itachi’s hand became a snake, crawling over his skin, reaching for his neck to choke him. Like a noose it tightened and Sasuke’s brain halted as panic clutched his body. He could hear his own labored breathing and his rapid heartbeats, yet it didn’t feel like his own body, for everything was overshadowed by a constant buzz tapping at his eardrums. As if being deprived of air, his vision started to darken, like a burning film, blackness seeped across his eyes, devouring his sight and his sobriety, throwing him deep into the well of unconsciousness.

……

There was a touch. There was a pleasant warmth and there were unpleasant rays of light. _The sun,_ Sasuke thought. Someone shielded his eyes. A gentle thumb was brushing over his eyebrow, fingers combing through his hair with so much cherishment and tenderness. Then his mind snapped, _Itachi…_ Sasuke’s eyes flew open, and he was immediately knocked over by the sight of Itachi hovering above him. It was only then that he realized his head was laying on Itachi’s lap. His brother’s hand stilled on his forehead, his eyes became impossibly soft. The only reason Sasuke didn’t scream and bolt away was the sickly heaviness that had overcome his body. He was too weak to react to Itachi’s cruelly innocent affection.

“You have a fever,” Itachi’s said softly, “so foolish, aren’t you? Catching a cold in summer.” Itachi’s chuckle tickled Sasuke’s heart. Itachi then leaned even closer, strands of dark hair cascading over Sasuke. The entire world paused around him, the Earth stopped spinning and the breeze ceased blowing. Sasuke vaguely remembered a restless dream from the night before. He must’ve been still sleeping, possessed by the nightmarish dream.

It must’ve taken a year and a half for Itachi’s face to finally reach Sasuke’s. Sasuke must’ve stopped breathing for a year and a half. And then the world renewed, the breeze gushed forward again and the Earth started a new turn. Itachi’s cool lips rested on Sasuke’s burning forehead.

“But I will take care of you, always.”

 _A dream, the sweetest dream,_ Sasuke mused, _and may it never end._


End file.
